Fanning-mill.



L. O. HAGE.

' FANNING MILL.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 27, 190B.

ented Aug. 17, 1909. 2% 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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FANNING- MILL.

APPLICATION FILED MAR..27, 1908.

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NITED sums PATENT OFFICE.

Louis 0. HAGE, or HALSTAD, MINNESOTA.

FANNING-MILL.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Lotus O. I-IAGE, a citizen of the United States,residing at I-Ialstad, in the county of Norman, State of Minnesota, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in FanningMills; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.-

This invention relates to fanning mills and more particularly to thatclass in which a foraminous conveyor travels beneath the fan of themill, the fan acting, by suction force, to stand the grain on end as itis carried beneath the fan by the conveyor.

More specifically speaking, the mill embodyingmy invention is designedto separate the wild oats from cultivated oats and with knowledge of thefact that wild oats are rough whereas cultivated oats are smooth, I soconstruct.- the foraminous conveyor that when the grains are raised, bysuction force exerted by the fan of the mill, to stand on their buttends, the wild oats will be caught in the mesh of the conveyer whereasthe smooth grains of cultivated oats will merely rest upon the conveyor.11 conveyor is passed over two rollers one roller being smooth and theother roller provided with a circumscribing wire or other means forspacing the conveyor apron therefrom and by this peculiar constructionof rollers, the cultivated oats are permitted to drop off from theconveyer apron as the apron passes over the roller whereas the wild oatsare carried around by the apron until the smooth roller is reached. Thislatter roller being smooth, the conveyor apron rests flat thereagainstand the grains of wild oats are in this manner forced or pushed from theapron and are allowed to fall. While the suction force exerted by thefan of the mill is not suthciently strong to draw the grains of catsfrom the foraminous conveyer apron, it is sufficiently strong to draw upany hulls, small bits of straw, etc, and the very small grains such asflax, timothy, etc., fall through the mesh of the apron.

One of the novel features of my invention resides in the peculiarconstruction of the air drum through which the air is drawn into the fancasing. Heretofore an ordinary cylindrical drum has been used, but Ihave found that the employment of such a drum Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed March 27, 1908.

Patented Aug. 17, 1909.

Serial No. 423,657.

results in the formation of vertical air currents above the apron andthat the efiiciency of the mill is detracted from but in carrying out myinvention 1 form within the air drum a plurality of vertical airpassages, preferably by disposing a number of intersecting plates withinthe drum, and the air is drawn directly vertically through these airpassages, the formation of eddy currents being in this manner obviated.

Another novel feature of my invention resides in forming one of therollers over which the conveyor apron passes in such a manner as tospace the apron therefrom so that the cultivated grain is allowed todrop from the apron before the wild grain is forced from the apron bythe other roller.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a millconstructed in accordance with my invention, Fig. 2 is a verticallongitudinal sectional view therethrough, Fig. 3 is a verticaltransverse sectional view on the line 3*3 of Fig. 1, and, Fig. 1- is ahorizontal sectional view taken on the line 4t4 of Fig. 1, and partlybroken away.

In the drawings, the mill is shown as comprising in part a foraminousconveyor apron 1.0 which travels over rollers, one indicated by thenumber 11 and the other by the numeral 12, these rollers being journaledat their ends in suitable bearings 13. For a purpose to be presentlydescribed, the roller 12 has a wire 1 1 wound spirally around it andsecured thereto and this wire serves to space the foraminous conveyorapron 10 from the surface of the roller as will be readily understood.hile I prefer to employ but a single wire for this purpose and to windit spirally as stated, around the roller, it will be understood ofcourse that some other means may be provided for spacing the conveyerapron from the surface of the roller. As is usual in mills of thisclass, a fan is mounted upon the conveyor apron and the construction andmanner of mounting this fan will now be specifically described. Thecasing for the fan comprises an upper head 15 which is circular in form,and an air drum 16 which is cylindrical in form and is formed orprovided at its upper edge with an outwardly extending flange 17 the periphery of which is coincident with the periphery of the upper head 15.of foraminous material is bent into annular form and is secured at itsupper and lower A stout sheet Cit edges to the edge of the head 15 andthe outer edge of the flange 17 respectively and serves U0 space the twomembers of the fan casing. This foraminous connection between the twomembers of the fan casing is indicated by the numeral 18 and it will beunderstood that it may be in the nature of a sheet of wire mesh materialor a sheet metal plate formed with perforations and formed through theconnecting or vertical wall as it might be termed is a large opening 19through which any light particles of straw and hulls may be blown afterbeing drawn up into the casing by the suction force eX- erted by thefan. A shaft 20 is journaled in a bearing formed axially of the upperhead 15 of the fan casing and this shaft has fixed at its upper end abeveled gear 21 with which meshes a similar gear 22 fixed upon a driveshaft 23. A head 2 1 is fixed upon the lower end of the shaft and fromthis head radiate arms 25 carrying fan blades 26 at their outer ends,the said fan blades being of a width substantially equal to the width ofthe flange 17 and traveling between the said flange and thecorresponding portion of the'upper head 15 of the casin The lower end ofthe air drum 16 of the fan casing is located in a plane directly abovethe upper stretch of the foraminous conveyer apron 10 and it will. beunderstood that as the fan is rotated, a suction will be exertedvertically through the said air drum 16 and it will further beunderstood that this suction force will act to raise the grain carriedupon the conveyer apron beneath the said lower end of the air drum andthat it will also act to draw up into the fan casing any hulls or lightbits of straw.

1 have found by actual experience that without the provision of somemeans within the air drum for breaking up the air currents, vorticalcurrents will be formed and I therefore arrange within the said drum aplurality of intersecting vertically disposed plates 27, the arrangementof the plates forming vertical air passages 28 within the drum. Ibelieve the provision of such plates to be the best method of formingsuch air passages within the drum but it will of course be understoodthat such passages may be formed in any other manner found desirable,the feature residing broadly in the formation of vertical air passageswithin the drum. It will of course be understood that in view of thefact that the air is drawn up through these air passages 28, there is nopossibility of the formation of vortical air currents within the drumalthough such currents may form above the upper ends of the passages;this however does not affect the operation of the mill.

Disposed between the upper and lower surface of the foraminous conveyersapron 10 and between the rollers 11 and 12 is a pair of plates 29 whichare inclined upwardly each in the direction of the other and areconnected or secured together at their upper ends, the lower ends oredges of the plates being attached to a suitable support and beingterminated preferably above a receptacle. The ridge formed by theconnected upper edges of the two plates 29 extends in a line mid-way ofthe side edges of the conveyer apron.

The operation of the mill is as follows Grain to be separated is placedupon the conveyer apron 10 while the same is traveling and the fan isrotating, and this grain when brought to position beneath the lower endof the air drum 16, will be acted upon by the suction force created bythe fan and the grains of the oats or the like will be drawn up orlifted so as to stand on their butt ends. The grains of cultivated wheator oats, being smooth, will only assume this position while passingbeneath the air drum, but the wild oats being rough, its grains will becaught in the meshes of the conveyer apron and held thereby. Thesegrains of wild oats will not be forced or dislodged from the apron as itpasses over the roller 12 owing to the fact that it is held in spacedrelation with respect to the surface of the roller, but the grains ofcultivated oats being smooth, will drop from the apron as it passes overthe said roller. The grains of wild oats will be carried by the apron tothe roller 11 and as the apron travels directly against the surface ofthis roller, the said grains will be forced or dislodged from the apronand be permitted to drop therefrom. It will thus be seen that thecultivated grain is discharged at one end of the conveyer and the wildgrain at the other end. Small grain such as timothy, fl x, etc., willdrop through the upper stretch of the conveyer apron and falling uponthe plates 29, will roll down the plates and into the receptacleprovided beneath the lower edges thereof, this receptacle beingindicated by the numeral 30. Hulls from the grain or light bits of strawwill be drawn up by the suction force produced by the fan, through theair passages 28, and into the fan casing and they will then be blown outby the fan through the opening 19 in the vertical wall of the easing. 1nthe cleaning of barley and larger grain, a coarser foraminous conveyeris used to obtain better results and in the use of such a conveyer, theWild oats will drop through the upper stretch thereof and will fall uponthe plate 29 and roll down the plate into the receptacle beneath. In theemployment of a conveyer having a medium size of mesh, that class ofgrain known as king crown or king head seed being lighter than wheatwill be drawn up by the suction fan into the fan casing together withthe hulls, light bits of straw, etc.

What is claimed, is

1. In a grain separator, a foraminous apron, a casing over and inproximity to the apron, said casing being subdivided into a plurality ofvertical passages, means for feeding grain to said apron and passing thesame under said casing, means connected to said casing for maintainingthrough said apron and said passages air currents of force sufiicienttoup enc the grains, and'means forseparately discharging the differentgrades.

In a grain separator, a foraminous apron, a casing over and in proximityto the apron, said casing being subdivided into a plurality of verticalpassages, a chute for feeding grain to said apron and passing the sameunder said casing, a fan connected to said casing for maintainingthrough said apron and said passages air currents of force sufficient toup end the grains, and means for separately discharging the difi erentgrades.

3. In a grain separator, a foraminous apron, a casing over and inproximity to the apron, said casing being subdivided into a plurality ofVertical passages, a chute for feeding grain to said apron and passingthe same under said casing, a fan connected to said casing formaintaining through said apron and said passages air currents of forcesufficient to up end the grains, a roller supporting said apron andhaving means thereon to hold the apron in spaced relation thereto, and asecond roller supporting said apron in spaced relation to the firstroller.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, in presence of tWoWitnesses.

LOUIS O. HAGE.

Witnesses E. BoUnBoNNmRa,

G. (I). HAGE.

